


Blue and the Monkey King

by Vakaara



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Enemies to Lovers, Identity Porn, Injury, M/M, kakavege week, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vakaara/pseuds/Vakaara
Summary: Goku is one of Earth’s uniformed superheros, and he’s fought his fair share of supervillains alongside his partner, Blue. One of those supervillains is still hanging around, though, and Goku’s not thrilled the only other survivor from his home planet is such an asshole.
Relationships: Son Goku/Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71
Collections: Kakavege Week





	Blue and the Monkey King

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to CapsuleCrisis and cosmicmewtwo for beta reading!

Goku braced himself and fired a ki blast. His hit connected, severing the giant tentacle before it could damage yet another skyscraper. Fighting something with this many legs was seriously annoying. 

“Behind!” Blue’s robotic voice crackled through the communicator in Goku’s ear, and Goku jumped clear just in time. Another tentacle caved the ground where he’d stood.

“Ideas?” Goku hoped so. Blue always seemed pretty up on his strategies.

“Hit it.” The distinctive blue armor of his hero friend, formally known as Capsule Man, streaked past. Goku watched one of Blue’s energy blasts bounce off the main body of the octopus. 

“Other ideas?” His tail twitched in agitation as he tracked the strange static of Blue’s energy, not quite like ki, while his friend looped out of sight behind the glass and metal of downtown West City. 

“Get ready. I’m going to lift it. Hit the underside.”

That sounded risky for Blue, and he’d barely given Goku any warning. Tensing, Goku gathered his ki, bracing for his opening. As promised, Blue darted past to flip the octopus, but a stray tentacle wrapped around him. Goku fired at the weaker looking part where the limbs joined, and was relieved when the monster roared and dropped Blue. He swore he’d heard the armor creaking. 

Before he had time to get off another shot, the octopus retreated, vanishing impossibly down the tiny sewer pipe it had appeared from.

Goku darted to check on Blue, who brushed him off. “I’m fine, ‘Key.”

They knew each other well enough for Blue to call Goku by his actual name, rather than the shortening of his Monkey King alias. Goku wished he would. 

It would be nice if they knew each other even better. Goku trusted his friend with his life, but he still didn’t know Blue’s real name, let alone his face. 

The Capsule Man armor was dented. Goku reached out in concern, but Blue yanked his arm away. “Bulma will fix it.” 

“Right.” Goku was a little jealous. Bulma must know who was under the mask. Maybe they were close. It would be nice to do little things like make sure his friend wasn’t bleeding, have lunch with him after battles. Find out what his lips felt like. 

Friend things. 

“I’m headed back. Get yourself checked over.” Blue flew off before Goku could respond, a bright streak against the sky. Figured he’d be more worried about Goku’s injuries than his own. He always sounded grumpy, but underneath all that he was obviously a good person. 

Goku stretched, ready to take that advice. He’d picked up a lot of bruises during the fight, maybe worse. Being a super strong alien from another planet helped a lot, but he wasn’t invulnerable. 

“Monkey King!” One of the emergency personnel responding to the scene was calling him. Goku ambled over, tail swishing in curiosity. 

“I found this.” The man held up a small device of some kind, grey metal with flashing red lights. “Think it’s related?”

“Dunno,” Goku paused, grinned and swiped the device, “I’ll take it to Capsule Corp for a check.” Maybe he could say hi to Blue again, when they weren’t in a rush. Or at least ask Bulma how he was doing.

“Thanks, that’d be a big help.” The man smiled, then trotted back over to his vehicle, clearly relieved to be back to routine clean up. 

Goku hummed as he took flight toward Capsule Corp’s round glass dome. It reflected like a huge igloo at the center of the city. The strange device clutched in his hand was an entry ticket to the lab where Blue’s armor was shaped. Maybe this time he’d be able to wheedle a few more details out of Bulma about the man who wore it.

* * *

Goku poked at the intercom outside Capsule Corp. “Bulma! It’s me! I have a thingy for you!” 

Bulma’s laugh crackled through the speaker. “Very descriptive, Goku. Bring the thingy straight on in.” The door buzzed open.

Humming again, Goku slipped through Capsule Corps glass doors, footsteps light. Now that he was close enough, he stretched his senses out to search for Capsule Man’s distinctive energy signature. 

Nothing. Goku’s shoe scuffed against the carpet, feet dragging for a moment in disappointment. 

A different, smaller energy signature tickled his senses. Goku froze. Vegeta was here. 

That wasn’t surprising in itself, but the closeness of Vegeta’s ki left Goku’s tail bristling with unease. Vegeta wasn’t a friend. He was the only other known survivor of Goku’s home planet, and he’d done his best to destroy Earth when he first arrived. Goku still wasn’t sure why. Spite, anger, it really didn’t matter. Vegeta, fascinating though he was, was not a good person. 

Goku really didn’t feel like dealing with him today. Not when he was still worried about whether Blue had sustained any serious injuries under that dented armor. 

He wasn’t going to get a choice. Vegeta’s ki was close, and Goku was picking up his scent now, too.

“Kakarot.” Yep. Several paces along the stylishly modern hallway, Vegeta had just turned a corner and now stood framed between the off-white walls, looking oddly normal in khakis and a long-sleeved navy shirt. “If you’ve come for a rematch, I’m afraid I’ll have to postpone.”

That old joke. Not much of a joke, though. Goku could feel the hostility rolling off Vegeta from here, could read it in the set of his muscles and the tense curve of his tail. Ratchet it up even a little bit more and there’d be bared teeth and snarling. 

He couldn’t blame Vegeta for hating him. If someone had beat Goku then slapped a power dampener on him, he’d hate them too. 

“No worries, Vegeta,” Goku tried to sound relaxed, and doubted he managed it, “the rematch can wait a bit.”

Vegeta’s face split briefly into a wild grin, a beast waiting to be unleashed. “Do let Bulma know if you ever get _impatient_.”

Bulma trusted Vegeta way too much, in Goku’s opinion. He was not going to give her even the slightest suggestion that he was ready for a rematch with Vegeta. She’d probably whip the power limiter off before Goku even finished his sentence. He had no idea how she’d managed to convince the authorities on Earth to spare Vegeta’s life, let alone release him to live in Capsule Corp, one of the nation’s industrial pillars.

It was safer for Earth to keep Vegeta’s power firmly locked away. Goku could ignore the singing in his blood a little longer. 

The first time he’d fought Vegeta, he’d barely survived with his life. Even with his fast recovery rate, he’d been in hospital for months waiting for his broken bones to heal. He could still barely believe that Gohan and Krillin had survived the experience, late stage though their arrival at the battle had been. 

Fighting Vegeta with his power unleashed again would be far too risky. Even if every fiber in Goku’s being longed to test himself again against that strength, to learn if his constant training had truly brought him to Vegeta’s level. 

He shouldn’t be so excited to think of such a deadly fight. Krillin and Yamcha would laugh nervously and suggest that he “talk to someone” if he tried to explain it to them. 

“If I get impatient, Vegeta, I’ll be sure to let Bulma know,” Goku smiled, forced his feet to move forward. Vegeta could no longer harm anyone, while he wore the power limiter that Bulma had fashioned. The limiter that Goku had attached to Vegeta’s wrist at the end of their first battle, when they could both barely move. “Is she in the lab with Blue?”

Vegeta sneered, an expression that Goku found deeply unnerving. “Bulma’s in the lab. I really couldn’t say where Capsule Man has gone.”

Weird thing to sneer about, but alright. “Thanks. See you later, Vegeta.”

Goku ignored Vegeta’s derisive snort as he slipped past. If they’d had a different relationship, he’d have liked to talk to Vegeta about being from planet Sadala, a Saiyan, rather than an Earthling. To learn more about their home and culture.

That wasn’t likely. 

A pneumatic hiss sounded as the doors to Bulma’s lab opened in front of Goku. She was seated at her main console, surrounded by a three-quarter circle ring of keyboards and screens. Goku had no idea what those all did. Some of the screens currently displayed armor schematics, and Goku’s tail swished upward with excitement. 

“Hey, Goku,” Bulma didn’t turn from the keyboard she was tapping at, “gimme the thingy.”

“Here,” Goku walked up next to her shoulder, placed the metal object on the desk space next to her currently in use keyboard, “it has lights and stuff?”

“Hmmm.” Bulma scooped the device up, examining it. “Looks like a transmitter of some sort. Let me run some tests and I’ll call you when the results are in.”

“Thanks, Bulma.” They’d be lost for tech support without her. She was as much a hero as he and Blue were, she just did her fighting from the lab. “Is Blue around?”

“No.” Bulma was distracted, crossing the room to plug the blinking device into one of her own devices, probably that test she’d mentioned. “He checked out fine though, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“That’s good.” Goku smiled, watched his distracted friend puttering around her lab. “I’ll see you ‘round, then.”

“Hold up!” Bulma’s focus was suddenly on him, alarmingly intense. “You never checked in after I did your last uniform upgrades. How’s it working?”

Goku tugged at the reinforced fabric of his red vest, sitting over matching red pants. More heroic looking than his old gi, Bulma had said, though she’d kept the red color scheme touched with blue at the waist and shoulders. The uniform she’d made fit a lot more snug, and he still wasn’t quite used to it. 

“It works,” Goku shrugged, unable to muster anymore enthusiasm for Bulma’s clothing engineering skills, “it feels a bit tight, but in the end it isn’t limiting my movements at all, and it’s lasting a lot longer than my other stuff did.”

“Well it had better be, considering what I made it out of.” Bulma inspected him more closely, poking at the uniform seams for damage and seeming satisfied that there was none. “You still have a few backup sets?”

“Yup, still got all three backups.” She’d made him four uniforms, to start, all slightly different in design. 

Goku tilted his head, inspecting the backup Capsule Man armors set up at intervals around the room. He spotted the one Blue had worn today on the work table, damage evident. “You sure Blue’s okay? Looks like he’s the one who’ll need to break out a backup uniform.”

Bulma laughed. “Believe me, Goku, he’s fine. It’ll take a lot more than that to hurt him.” 

Goku shrugged. “Just checking.” Blue was so secretive, Goku worried he wouldn’t let on to anyone even if he did need medical help.

“Speaking of checking,” Bulma looked apologetic, “how are things with your family lately?”

“Things are fine.” Goku rubbed at the back of his head, an uneasy habit. He and ChiChi had divorced a couple years back. It stung that he didn’t see her and Gohan every day anymore. ChiChi had found it too hard to watch Goku rushing headlong into battles, coming back half dead sometimes. And she didn’t want him setting a bad example for Gohan, who was on the path to being a great scholar. 

His fight with Vegeta had been the final straw. Even Gohan had gotten dragged into that mess. Goku’s tail twitched uneasily. His tail was how he’d gotten his Superhero name, after some old fable, but in reality it marked him as part of a violent alien race. He wasn’t sure he liked that. 

“Hmm.” Bulma narrowed her eyes, looking ready to press for more details, then was distracted by her machine beeping. “Oh! That was fast.” 

She brushed past the blue armor spread out on her work table again as she headed back to collect the analysis results. Goku wondered if she’d let him have a closer look at it this time, maybe explain a little more about this invention that protected his friend. Bulma always waved him away from the armor, which was weird considering how keen she usually was to show off her inventions. 

“Dammit,” Bulma spat, “it’s Dr Gero again. I’m getting so sick of him.”

“You can tell who it is already?” 

“Yeah, that idiot used the same proprietary tech he just demonstrated at an industrial showcase, is he even trying to hide anymore?” Bulma rolled her eyes. “Anyway, this basically lets him commandeer whatever sealife is in the area, and gives it a size boost to boot. You’d better pay a visit to his new lab and slap handcuffs on him again, before this gets any messier.”

“Sure. Uh, where’s his lab?”

“Got you covered, buddy.” Bulma was already back at her computer, tapping away. “There. Transmitter signal tracked and locked. I’ll send the coordinates to Capsule Man’s helmet, you can tag team.” 

Goku grinned. He’d get to catch up with his friend again already. Maybe a longer conversation this time, since they were planning a bust rather than being flagged to an emergency. “Thanks, Bulma.”

“Hmm.” Bulma gave him a knowing look. “Now shoo, my lab’s fully booked with other guests for the afternoon.”

Probably Blue, coming to prep. Goku was tempted to hang around, see if he could pick up a trace of Blue’s scent or ki. But that would be wrong. If Blue wanted Goku to know who he was, he’d tell him. Until then, Goku needed to keep being patient with his friend. 

“Okay. Let Blue know I’m ready when he is.” Bulma made a face, and Goku grinned as he ducked out the door. She wasn’t as sneaky with her excuses for Blue as she thought.

He nearly bumped into Vegeta in the narrow hallway. Goku’s tail bristled. Was Blue really safe coming to Capsule Corp to suit up all the time when Vegeta was camped out here, glowering?

Vegeta’s eyes narrowed, and Goku saw his tail was also fluffed with irritation. “Taking your time today, aren’t you Kakarot?”

Goku scowled. “Superhero stuff. None of your business.” Should he try to get Vegeta away from the lab? Why was Vegeta hovering around here?

“Whatever. You’re in my way.” Vegeta brushed past Goku’s shoulder before Goku could make up his mind. Goku caught his scent, oddly pleasant.

Shaking his head, Goku turned to glare one last time over his shoulder at Vegeta. However nice it might have been to get to know someone else from his planet, Vegeta wasn’t someone to be friends with.

Heading back towards Capsule Corp’s door, Goku fiddled with his communicator, checking that it was still on. He hoped he’d hear from Blue soon.

* * *

Nimbus looped around Blue as they flew. Goku could fly just fine on his own, but it was better to save his ki for the battle. Just in case. 

“Think there’ll be another octopus?” Goku watched the light glint off Blue’s armor. One of the backup ones, slightly clunkier looking than what he’d worn earlier today.

“I hope not,” Blue sounded grumpy through the comms, “that transmitter makes them even more irritating than usual.”

“Aw, you don’t like octopus? But they’re so tasty.” What was Blue’s favorite food? They never ate together, what with Blue being encased head to toe in pneumatically sealed armor.

“To eat, yes. Otherwise, no.” Goku filed that away. 

“What’d they ever do to you before this morning?” Getting Blue to talk about himself took persistence, but Goku had a lot of practice.

“Not quite this kind, exactly, but,” Blue fell silent for a beat before continuing, “things with tentacles are never pleasant to fight.”

What had he been fighting that had tentacles other than a giant octopus, and why hadn’t Goku been invited? In the three years since Blue had arrived on the scene, Goku thought he’d kept track of most of his friend’s battles even if he wasn’t fighting alongside him, but none of them involved tentacles before today.

“We’re nearly there.” Blue broke Goku’s chain of thought. “Follow me.”

“Okay. You sure you’re not hurt after earlier?”

“For the fifth time, ‘Key, I’m fine.” It was hard to tell voice tone precisely though the distortions of the amour, but Blue sounded a little annoyed. He accelerated ahead of Goku, leading the way towards a nearby cliff.

They came to a halt hovering near the rock face. Blue’s head was tipped sideways, probably reading something on the inside of his helmet. “The lab’s here. Must be a hidden door. Can you sniff it out?”

Goku inhaled deeply. Pine trees, snow-crisp air, and a faint tang of saltwater. Huh. They were nowhere near a beach. Eyes closed, Goku swiveled his head, trying to pinpoint the drift of that ocean smell. 

“Over there.” Opening his eyes, Goku pointed down and to the left. Blue tapped something on his helmet, which made a chiming noise a moment later.

“Got it.” Blue sank lower in the air, coming to rest next to a largely tree-covered hole in the cliff face. Goku dropped down beside him on Nimbus and whistled. A solid-looking metal door sat inside a short tunnel. He wasn’t sure he’d‘ve spotted it without Blue’s scanners.

“Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we?” For a moment Blue sounded sinister, and Goku’s lips quirked up in amusement. Every once in a while Blue would use a turn of phrase that sounded more villain than hero, and Goku enjoyed the little glimpses past his friend’s polished hero media facade.

Blue’s metal boots clicked against the rock. Goku hopped off Nimbus and followed silently, precise steps in his softer boots. Reaching the door, Blue focused a narrow laser beam from his armor near part of the locking mechanism. A moment later something clunked and the whole door shifted. Goku grinned as Blue reached out and pushed the door easily open. Nothing to it, to look at Blue work.

The tunnel was dark, and Goku blinked rapidly to help his eyes adjust. In here, the air was more strongly ocean scented. 

“Smells like the right place,” he reported to Blue. The armor’s sensors were good, but Blue wouldn’t be able to smell a thing in there. Not that a human nose would have added much new information for him.

“Hmmm.” Blue’s head tipped again, scanning. “I’m not picking up any life signs.” 

“Me neither.” Goku couldn’t sense any ki, only the static crackle of Blue’s armored energy. 

Blue took the lead, clicking down the tunnel. Goku followed without complaint. In the dark here, Blue’s armor gave him better senses. 

“Pretty narrow in here.” Goku frowned at the tunnel, hoping it wouldn’t hamper Blue’s fighting. The armor, weirdly, was better at offense than defense, and Blue tended to do better with long range energy blasts than hand to hand fighting. 

“You’d better be saying that for your own strategy, ‘Key.” Blue always got grumpy when Goku worried about him.

“Sure,” Goku smiled at the back of the armor’s head, “hey, what kind of battle field did you have for your last match with tentacles?” Maybe he could pry out a little more of that story.

Blue’s sigh crackled in uneven gusts through the armor’s speakers. “You're like a dog with a bone sometimes.”

Goku chuckled, then snapped back to alertness as the tunnel changed in front of them, widening and branching. His skin prickled, and the smell of ocean grew stronger. 

“I think there’s something here.” 

“I’m not picking up anything.” Blue tilted his head, as if that would have any impact on Bulma’s high precision scanners. 

“Yeah, I’m not sensing any ki, but it really smells like-“ A tentacle shot out from the shadows ahead, passing Blue, to wrap around Goku’s leg. He yelped as it dragged him rapidly forwards, and fired ki blasts at the octopus that frustratingly left no damage.

“‘Key!” Blue swiped for his shoulder and missed, then darted after him. 

Goku could see the rest of the octopus around the corner now, about twice the size of the one they’d fought earlier. It wouldn’t be in Blue’s sensor range yet, especially since it wasn’t giving off a ki signature. It was crouched in a cramped room hollowed from the rock of the cliff, a worryingly confined space for a battle.

“Watch - argh!” Goku’s leg broke with a snap as the octopus tightened its grip. This wasn’t a game. 

At least it was only one broken leg so far. Still a lot better than his fight with Vegeta. 

Blue made a strange crackling noise over the comms, then rammed the octopus.

“Get out of there! Blue!” What the hell was he thinking, getting in close like that? Had he already forgotten how easily the smaller octopus this morning had dented his armor? 

Bright blue light flared, and Goku realized that Blue was aiming at the softer underside of the octopus. He’d closed in to aim. That tactic had worked this morning. Goku bit his lip, trying to find a useful angle for a ki blast. The octopus still had a grip on his now-broken leg, and it’s movements jarred painfully. He couldn’t see any vulnerable bits to aim at, just the tough skin. 

Tentacles had wrapped around all of Blue’s limbs, dragging him inwards. Goku’s stomach clenched. He could already see the armor denting again. Blue fired again, and Goku realized with a sinking feeling that the ki blasts felt weak. Of course. This was the older backup armor, lacking Bulma’s most recent upgrades. Blue had even less firepower than this morning.

Why the hell did he have to ram into it like that, instead of hanging back to figure out an actual strategy?

It was at least partly effective, though. The octopus juddered under the next attack, grip on Goku’s leg slackening. Blue must have damaged it. Goku blasted the tentacle around his leg the rest of the way loose, floated in the air under ki power to keep his weight off the break. 

In retaliation, the octopus drew all of its limbs around Blue. He vanished completely from sight, but Goku heard the armour creaking, heard alarming static crackles coming through the comms.

“Blue!” Could he even breathe with the octopus gripping him that tight? How the hell was Goku going to get it off of him? He felt panic start to rise. Since when was Dr Gero’s meddling this dangerous?

“—ind the —mitter.” Blue’s voice cut in and out. His helmet must be badly damaged.

“Blue, you need to keep hitting it!” Goku couldn’t see any vulnerable spots from out here, and he was afraid to fire in any case. He might hit Blue and make things even worse. Blue’s armor was probably less tough than the octopus right now.

“—n’t. Go fi—.” Shit. Had Blue just said that he couldn’t keep attacking? Just how badly was his armor damaged?

Goku needed to get him out of there. 

“Activ—-ing —otocol 45–3–“ The armor’s usually quiet AI, activated in emergencies only, was reading out a protocol in its robotic female voice.

_Blue_. The emergency AI had only activated once before, and Goku was pretty sure Blue had nearly died that time, even though Bulma had been cagey about it. Another set of alien invaders, though not from his own planet. Part of some bizarre outfit called the Ginyu force that had weird poses and terrifying strength.

The octopus tightened its grip, and Goku felt the distinctive fizz of Blue’s energy signature wink out. 

“No!” He had to get Blue out of there. Back to Bulma, maybe she could help.

A familiar ki yawned close by, and Goku’s stomach twisted. Not now. He couldn’t deal with Vegeta right now. How had he gotten the ki limiter off? Why was his timing so goddamn awful? 

Maybe if Goku asked really nicely, he’d help get Blue free. Hah. 

The octopus exploded in a burst of blue light.

What?

“Blue!” Goku flew forward, hoping like hell his friend was still breathing. God, he hadn’t self-destructed had he?

“Rrgh. Fucking tentacles.” The voice was a familiar growl, but Goku didn’t understand. 

Vegeta pushed aside some octopus remnants and stood, tail twitching in irritation. 

“What did you do with Blue?!” Goku brought himself to a halt a few feet from Vegeta, glaring. The room smelled like burnt octopus. Kinda tasty.

Vegeta looked at him and snorted. “Not very bright, are you?”

What? “Did you hurt him?” Broken leg or no, Goku was going to get Vegeta for that. “Tell me where he is!”

“Fine.” Vegeta stooped, came up holding an armguard from the armor. “Here’s your little friend.” 

Goku stretched his senses frantically, but the only living things he could sense in the basement were himself and Vegeta. 

With a snarl, he launched himself at Vegeta, slamming Vegeta into the octopus-scented wall. He pressed his arm against Vegeta’s throat, growling. Vegeta just smirked at him. 

“You really are slow on the uptake, ‘Key.” Vegeta froze suddenly, looking horrified.

‘Key? That was what Blue called him. Goku couldn’t think of anyone else who used that particular nickname for him. 

What?

Blue’s energy signature had vanished almost exactly when Vegeta’s had appeared. Vegeta had been standing where Blue should have been standing.

Earlier today, he’d seen Vegeta heading into the lab, right before Blue came out of it. 

_What?_

Vegeta must have noticed Goku’s expression changing. He sighed. “All caught up now?” 

He wasn’t attacking. Goku was pinning Vegeta to a wall, and Vegeta wasn’t trying to attack him, even though Goku was injured and Vegeta’s ki limiter was gone. 

Slowly, cautiously, Goku eased his arm away from Vegeta’s neck, setting down on his good leg to stand in front of Vegeta.

“You?” Goku was having a hard time believing it. “This whole time?” 

Vegeta shrugged, looking awkward. “I was bored.”

“Bored.” Goku could see bruises mottling Vegeta’s bare arms, probably marks from earlier today. He’d have more already rising after this latest attack. “Hell of a dangerous way to kill boredom.”

“Didn’t I tell you when we first fought?” Vegeta’s voice was softer than usual. “We’re a warrior race. Fighting is what we live for.” 

Goku remembered. It had made so much sense. He’d hated it, that he and Vegeta were so tied together by nature. 

Swallowing, Goku moved back, giving Vegeta more space. He saw now that Vegeta wore a slimmed down version of the battlesuit he’d arrived on Earth wearing, dark blue material encasing him from ankles to neck. His arms, feet, and hands remained bare. They’d have been covered by the armor he was meant to be wearing. 

“Are you okay?” It was a stupid question. Goku could tell from the steady strength of Vegeta’s ki that he was completely fine. 

“Mmm.” Vegeta’s lips quirked, an expression closer to a smile than his usual smirk. “Bulma’s added a useful protocol to the armor, since we fought the Ginyu force.”

That pretty much cemented it. It had been Vegeta inside the armor the whole time.

How the hell could he be so nice and trustworthy as Blue, when he was such an asshole the rest of the time?

Wait. “Hold on. B— Vegeta. Tell me you know about that protocol.” Vegeta had been fine because, apparently, the armor’s emergency protocol had been to kill his ki limiter once the armor’s structural integrity was breached. That had freed Vegeta’s own immense ki. If he’d been a normal human inside the armor, or if the ki limiter had remained intact, that dive into the octopus would have been pretty damned risky. 

But Vegeta hated his ki limiter. If he known that the armor had a protocol to kill it once damaged, why did Blue normally fight like he was trying to avoid major damage?

Vegeta blinked. “Obviously.” He was sneering again, looking like his usual unpleasant self. “What, you think I’d put myself in actual danger for you?”

Goku lifted an eyebrow. “You already did that when we fought Recoome.” The armor had been a wreck. Though not, Goku realized now, enough that he’d been able to catch Vegeta’s scent, which he would have recognized. “That protocol’s new since then, hmm?”

He’d hit the mark. Vegeta’s lips curled back in a snarl, defensive. “Don’t flatter yourself. Idiot.” 

Hmm.

Goku leaned forward and pressed his lips to Vegeta’s. 

For a moment Vegeta returned the kiss, pliant. That was good. Goku shivered, enjoying the sensation. Vegeta smelled so damn good. 

As if realizing what he was doing, Vegeta grabbed Goku around the throat and shoved him away, panting. His face was flushed. Goku grinned. 

“So you don’t hate me too much after all, huh?” 

“Wh—“ Vegeta couldn’t get the words out. His face was getting redder. 

Goku wrapped one hand around Vegeta’s wrist near his throat, and braced the other hand on Vegeta’s shoulder. He leaned forward, pushing Vegeta’s arm down, and Vegeta let him, til Goku was close enough to kiss him again. 

It was hungry, this time. Vegeta’s teeth grazed Goku’s lower lip, tongue pushing inside Goku’s mouth. Goku bit back a groan, pressing in closer. Why hadn’t they done this sooner?

Oh, right. He’d thought Vegeta was still the monster that had tried to blow up Earth, rather than the friend he’d trusted with his life for the past three years. 

Goku’s comm crackled. “Goku!” Bulma’s voice. “Goku, are you okay? What about V—— Capsule Man? The armor’s gone completely offline!”

“We’re both fine, Bulma.” Goku reluctantly pulled back, watching Vegeta.

“You are not fine,” Vegeta was glaring at him, “your leg is broken, and you should get it treated immediately.”

“Ah, right,” Goku hadn’t been paying attention to his leg. Now that he was no longer distracted by Vegeta’s taste and scent, the sharp ache of broken bone in his leg reasserted itself. “We’re mostly fine, but uh. Coming back now to get my leg fixed up.”

“Alright, I’ll get the med kit ready.” Bulma hesitated. “Is, um. Is Capsule Man there?” 

“I can’t believe you, Bulma.” Goku let some of his irritation seep into his voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I know, I know!” She was apologetic. “But he really didn’t want me to! Can you pass him the communicator for a minute?”

Goku sighed, then unclipped the communicator from the shell of his ear, reaching to clip it to Vegeta’s ear instead. His thumb brushed Vegeta’s face, and Vegeta started, but didn’t move away from the touch. Goku grinned. “Tell Bulma hello, Blue.”

“Bulma,” Vegeta sounded cautious, his voice a low and pleasant rumble, “what is it?” 

Goku couldn’t hear what Bulma was saying through the communicator, but Vegeta’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re sure?”

Apparently she was sure. Vegeta frowned, then passed the communicator back to Goku, moving towards the armor’s wreckage at the center of the pile of octopus bits.

“What’re you— hey!” Goku’s voice spiked with alarm as Vegeta raised a fistful of ki and began disintegrating pieces of the armor.

“Let him, Goku, it’s my request.” 

“Bulma? Why?” She worked so hard on all her tech, and she’d asked Vegeta to blow it up? 

“I don’t want Dr Gero or anyone else getting their hands on it, and it’s probably in too many pieces now to bring back.” 

“Oh.” She wasn’t wrong about the damage to the armor, but it still hurt to see bits of Blue burn away. 

“What happened to your leg, exactly?”

“Oh, uh.” Goku fidgeted. “It’s a bit broken.” 

“A bit broken.” Bulma sounded disbelieving. “And what, you just forgot about it until V—- Capsule Man reminded you?”

“I got distracted.” Goku really hoped she wouldn’t ask for more details. 

“Hmm.” Bulma paused, then apparently decided to drop it. “Just don’t forget to grab whatever tech is lying around before you leave.”

“Gotcha.” The last time they’d raided one of Gero’s labs, they’d found what looked like schematics for some androids. Bulma’s eyes had widened when she’d seen those. Apparently if the schematics worked, they’d be fighting some pretty strong enemies. Goku was secretly hoping Gero would make the androids someday, so he could test his strength against them. 

“Let’s go, Kakarot.” Goku flinched slightly at Vegeta’s use of his Saiyan name, turned to glare. Vegeta glared back, standing in the middle of the scorched room, something gripped in one hand.

“Alright.” Vegeta didn’t even wait til Goku had finished voicing his agreement before he turned and stomped out of the room. 

There was going to be a lot to get used to.

* * *

Goku rested his broken leg along Nimbus. Perfectly soft and fluffy. Good cloud. 

It wasn’t as sore now, either, since Vegeta had splinted it. Goku felt his face melt in a grin as he looked at the blue reflecting in the sunlight. Vegeta had paused long enough in obliterating the armor bits to grab the least damaged leg piece. Having his leg patched up with part of his friend’s armor made Goku feel all fuzzy.

“Hey, Vegeta.”

Vegeta didn’t respond. Goku assumed he was listening anyway. 

“Why Earth?” Why’d you try to blow it up, he meant. Why did you stay here. 

Vegeta kept silent. Maybe Goku would never get to know Blue after all. Inside the armor where he thought he’d find a friend and comrade, he found a sullen former enemy.

Who was a great kisser.

“The PTO.” Vegeta muttered his response. Goku almost missed it. 

“The— wait. The Planetary Trade Organization? Like with Frieza?” They were nasty business. Goku remembered teaming up with Blue and a bunch of the other heroes, from Earth and beyond, to tackle Frieza a year ago. They’d barely made it out. Frieza had made his skin crawl.

“Yes.” 

Goku tried to figure that one out. Vegeta had come here because of the PTO. But. “That’s not really an answer, Blue.” 

The nickname slipped out. He hoped it didn’t make Vegeta madder. 

More silence. Hard to gauge. 

“I was part of it.”

Wait. What? “You were in the PTO?” Did that mean that Vegeta had worked for Frieza? It didn’t add up. The first fight Goku remembered Blue joining was against Zarbon, Frieza’s right-hand man who’d shown up to attack Earth.

Come to think of it, Zarbon had said he was there to clean up after someone else’s failure. 

“It wasn’t a choice.” Vegeta sounded like the words were dragged out against his will. 

“Oh.” That sounded bad, somehow. “You have choices now, though.” 

Goku felt guilt curl through his stomach when he remembered the power limiter. 

“Yes.” Unexpectedly, Vegeta’s voice had warmed. 

_Oh_. “You chose to fight them.” It hadn’t been a coincidence, then, that Blue had first joined him against a PTO member.

“Bulma helped.” Vegeta sounded fond, and Goku pushed away a stab of jealousy. “She made the armor. A loophole to let me fight even with the ki limiter.”

The immense power that the Capsule Man armor held suddenly made sense now. Goku wasn’t a technician, didn’t know how that stuff worked. But he’d never seen any other armored fighter with anywhere close to Blue’s firepower. “That was just your ki? Blue’s strength.”

“More or less.” Vegeta sounded sad. “I had to rely on the armor to channel it, as long as the limiter remained. It’s not the same as really fighting for yourself.” 

“You must really hate the PTO.” It slipped out before Goku could stop it. But the more he thought, the truer it was. Vegeta, when Goku first fought him, was composed almost entirely of pride. The idea of relying on a piece of technology to use his own strength would have been incomprehensible to the man Goku had met all those years ago. Yet here he was, explaining that he’d been relying on Bulma’s technology for three years to let him join the battlefield. It must have been Zarbon’s presence on Earth that drew him to that, somehow.

Goku was surprised Vegeta didn’t seem to hate Goku himself more, for slapping that ki limiter on in the first place. 

“Yes. I do hate the PTO.” Goku couldn't see Vegeta’s face well from his perch on Nimbus, but he was willing to bet that Vegeta’s expression was pretty dark right now. 

“I’m sorry.” It spilled out. “The ki limiter. I’m really sorry.”

Vegeta was silent for a long time. Goku bit his lip. He should have just left it. Sorry, Blue. 

“I did hate you.” Vegeta’s voice was soft. “For trapping me, like that. I thought it would have been better if you’d finished me off, instead. More honest.”

Goku’s stomach twisted. Even as an enemy, he’d never wanted to kill Vegeta. It would have been such a waste. Of strength, of skill. Evil as he had seemed when he first came to Earth, Vegeta had always been a person and not a monster to Goku. Someone worth reaching out to. 

“I’m glad I didn’t.” If Goku had followed the urging from some quarters to kill Vegeta, he’d never have had his partner. Blue. 

Vegeta laughed. “Turns out, being prisoner in Capsule Corp is significantly more pleasant than working for the PTO.” 

So he had Bulma to thank, in part, for this transformation. “So you didn’t want to go back?”

“Fuck no.” Vegeta sounded horrified. “After that year,” the year he’d spent on Earth before Zarbon arrived, Goku assumed, “I would have rather died, than be dragged back to Frieza.”

Had Zarbon been here for that? Dragging Vegeta back?

“So you helped me fight.” Goku was grateful. He’d told Blue that at the time. If he’d faced Zarbon alone, he’d have lost. With Blue’s help, they’d won without any severe damage. 

“Yes.” Vegeta’s voice wasn’t as growly as usual, Goku noticed. “It was nicer, here. I wasn’t ready to leave.”

Goku smiled. “I think I’m glad Zarbon showed up, then.” He’d have been so bored, without Blue fighting by his side all these years. Lonely.

“Hah. A true Saiyan. Always up for a fight.” 

Saiyan. Goku tensed. He wasn’t sure, still, if he was happy about that. But. 

He glanced over at Vegeta, power limiter gone and still peaceful. Thought about their conversation. How much he trusted Blue. 

“Teach me more about it?” He’d wanted to ask for so long. “Being Saiyan.”

Vegeta looked at him and smiled. Goku felt himself melt. He hadn’t seen Vegeta properly smile before, and it was a good look on him. It felt special, being on the receiving end.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Vegeta paused, “‘Key.”

Not his Earth name, but not his Saiyan name either. Goku was pretty sure the melting feeling was showing in his smile now. Vegeta was reaching out for a compromise. 

“Hey,” Goku tilted Nimbus, moved closer to Vegeta, angled sideways so their noises nearly brushed, “thank you, Vegeta.” 

“Hmm.” Vegeta didn’t move away, his gaze measuring. 

Goku grabbed a handful of Vegeta’s hair, pulled them together for another burning kiss. Vegeta leaned into him, and Goku shivered at the hum of his unrestrained ki. So much strength. How did Vegeta manage to smell so damn good? Vegeta’s teeth grazed Goku’s lip, drawing him deeper. Goku pressed closer, senses full of Vegeta.

They had a lot of time to make up for.

**Author's Note:**

> Their power when they first fought was the same as their Saiyan Saga DBZ meeting. Goku’s training since then brought him up a bit higher than Vegeta, but not as high as Frieza saga levels (and he never died, so no kaioken, no Spirit Bomb, and he didn’t do the gravity training on the way to Namek). They’re still Saiyan with all their usual traits like tails and good noses and Oozaru, but no Super Saiyan transformations.


End file.
